Towards the beginning of the Wehrmacht's invasion of the USSR, the situation with motorcycles in the Red Army left much to be desired. There were few "iron horses" in the Soviet troops before the war and the forced evacuation of industrial plants to Siberia considerably complicated their production.
Then, the Western allies came to the USSR's rescue. British ‘Velocettes’ and ‘Matchlesses’ and American ‘Indians’ and ‘Harley-Davidsons’ arrived in the country.
The latter made up the lion's share of all deliveries - more than 21,000 were supplied. For comparison, no more than 16,000 M-72s - the main Soviet military motorcycle (based on the German BMW R71) - were manufactured throughout the period of the global conflict.
Thus, the Harley-Davidson became the most widely used motorcycle in the Red Army. And it also became the favorite of Soviet soldiers.
The Harley-Davidson 42WLA that was supplied to the USSR was noted for its reliability, durability, the high quality of its components, its large payload capacity, comfort, powerful engine and tolerance of low-quality gasoline. While it didn't like off-road conditions too much, on a surfaced road, it could reach a speed of up to 110 km/h.
"The Harley is a good, sturdy machine, with a V-type engine protected by the frame, with chain drive… a leather saddle on springs softens all those bumps," recalled Arseny Zonov, a member of a motorized mobile unit.
The 42WLA came equipped with a luggage rack for transporting radio communication equipment, an ammo box and a special scabbard for the 11.43-mm Thompson submachine gun. The Red Army received almost 138,000 of the guns - the weapon of choice of the gangsters of the Great Depression era - from the Americans.
Since the Harleys were supplied to the Soviet Union without a sidecar, on arrival, they were fitted with sidecars from the Soviet M-72. After that, the "iron horse" was kitted out with weapons in the form of the 7.62-mm Degtyaryov machine gun or – albeit rarely – with the PTRS or PTRD anti-tank rifle.
The motorcycle could also be equipped with an 82-mm mortar gun. The Red Army soldiers would set it up in its firing position in the blink of an eye, fire it and then load it back on the sidecar and withdraw at top speed from the enemy's return fire.
Harley-Davidsons were used for the needs of military reconnaissance, signals and HQ services. In addition, the fast and well-armed motorcycles played an active role in combat.
Mobile motorcycle units carried out probing reconnaissance operations, seized bridges and river crossings and penetrated deep inside enemy lines, successfully operating at distances of up to several hundred kilometers from the main forces. Depending on the combat tasks they were set, these units could be reinforced with heavy armored vehicles and self-propelled artillery.
"If the enemy suddenly broke through our army's defenses somewhere, our regiment was directed there, in order to strengthen the defenses or, if our units broke through the German defenses after lengthy fighting, but lacked the capacity to pursue them, in we would be sent again," recalled Serafim Vasin, a serviceman of the motorcycle regiment of the 6th Guards Tank Army.
The Soviet Harleys even successfully reached Berlin and, in the war against Japan, they gave a splendid account of themselves in the wide open spaces of Manchuria. The American motorbikes also found an application in the USSR after the war. Apart from anything else, they were employed with great relish by the Moscow police.
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